Finger-Tight
by CeliaLauna
Summary: College!AU. Caitlin's fighting with some equipment in the lab because someone didn't follow the correct guidelines. Good thing Cisco, the guy in her biophysics class, can help her out. Funny how they keep meeting like this, though.


**Summary:** Caitlin Snow was a well-respected student. She was doing her Masters in Bio-Engineering while taking a lot of med-school courses at Central City University. The research she was conducting under guidance of Doctor Wells was going to be groundbreaking. It would only take a few hours to run the test and report the results back to Doctor Wells. She'd be finished before the weekend.

That is, if she would be able to set up the damn equipment.

College!AU. Caitlin's fighting with some equipment in the lab because someone didn't follow the correct guidelines. Good thing Cisco, the guy in her biophysics class, can help her out. Funny how they keep meeting like this, though.

 **Notes:** This story is based on my own experience with this equipment. It is a Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) and I use it all the time at work. The 'finger-tight' issue is a known problem there. I often can't detach the column of the previous user, and one of my colleagues has difficulties attaching it without having leaks.

For those curious how the equipment looks like (which I think would be nice for the sake of not being confused in this story), some links will be available in the story itself. I do not promote any specific brands, I just went with what google offered me and I recognized myself.

As I said before, all stories in this series can be read separately.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own these characters and whatnot. I only own the immense frustrations that come with fighting with the equipment mentioned in this work.

* * *

 _ **Finger-Tight**_

Caitlin Snow was a well-respected student. She was doing her Masters in Bio-Engineering while taking a lot of med-school courses at Central City University. The research she was conducting under guidance of Doctor Wells was going to be groundbreaking. This new identification and qualification method for toxins in the bloodstream was going to be a big break-through in the medical world. All the previous tests had been promising and now that she had altered the method a bit more, she was excited to see an even higher specificity. It would only take a few hours to run the test and report the results back to Doctor Wells. She'd be finished before the weekend.

That is, if she would be able to set up the damn equipment.

The UPLC instrument was the same one she worked with a dozen of times before. Usually she's in on Tuesday afternoon, so previous columns that were attached had already been taken out. But she had figured out how to (potentially) increase the specificity after her latest run on the instrument, so that Friday morning when she saw on the online booking calendar she saw the equipment had been available, she had booked it.

What she not had taken into account, was that the previous user had not taken down his column yet. Not a big problem, Caitlin had replaced such parts of equipment plenty of times before. Except the previous user did not know the meaning of the word _'_ _finger-tight'_. Taped onto the machine, in clear letters from a label maker, the phrase 'Do NOT use any keys! Column must be fixed FINGER-TIGHT!' was hard to miss. Some small keys were laying on top of the bench, but she had never needed to use them before, and she'd never been tempted to use them in case she could damage her column. She'd always been able to detach other columns by hand and her own column was always leak-free when she attached it, without needing any key. She knew one of the PhD students, Brie Larven, never managed to get it as tight without a key, she'd always have leaks. But Caitlin never needed it before. Until now.

Whoever Bartholomew H. Allen – the previous name on the roster – may be, she's going to have a chat with him. Potentially yell. Explain how overly tight columns are not great for the equipment either. And how he needs to take other people into account should he not want his own equipment damaged.

So right now, Caitlin Snow was standing on a chair to get the column detached, her fingers red from trying to turn the small instrument out of its place. She was very well aware that she could just use a key and be done with it. But it's not good for the instrument or the column and she'd recognized the label on this column as she'd used the same one before, so she didn't want to ruin equipment she might use herself again. She'd always managed to do it without a key, so she should be able to do this as well. The past had proven she did not need a key, statistically speaking.

Caitlin was desperately holding onto that explanation, ignoring her sense of pride being shattered by every passing minute that her fingers looked redder and more destroyed while the column wouldn't budge.

"Need a hand?"

Caitlin turned her head to the door, still standing on the chair and her hands on the column. In the doorway stood a young man of Latino origin, shoulder length black hair falling around his face, accentuation his soft smile. Caitlin recognized him from one of her biophysics classes.

"I'm fine," Caitlin responded, turning back to the column. She heard the guy walk into the lab. His outfit of a jeans, a bright colored T-shirt and a black hoodie weren't atypical to see in the labs of the biology department, but seeing anyone with long, loose hair and without a lab coat made alarm-bells go of in Caitlin's head. _Not supposed to be working in a lab_ , it meant. "I just need to detach this column and attach mine. It's tighter than I'm used to." Caitlin silently hoped that he didn't understand exactly what she meant so he would leave her to failing at fighting the machine, alone.

The guy dropped his backpack to the floor and pulled a USB stick from his pocket, plugging it into the computer attached to the UPLC. "I can help if you want to," he said while opening a few windows on the computer.

Caitlin looked on to make sure he didn't close anything of hers, or that he didn't alter the settings, but he only opened two folders. He turned back to her. "Usually I can do it just fine," she said.

The guy shook his head. "Why don't you use a key?" he asked. She pointed to the label with the word _'finger-tight'_ on it, silently mocking her. He shrugged. "Fair enough," he responded, turning back to the computer. "But Barry usually puts the column too tight. He always can attach it, but sometimes he can't even detach it himself." Caitlin let her shoulders fall at this info, together with the knowledge that this was not Bartholomew (Barry?) Allen and so she shouldn't work out her frustrations on him. But at least he knew the guy.

"Seriously," the guy kept talking. "I often have to detach it for him. I don't even know where he gets the strength from, he isn't exactly muscled, and he usually is always slow. And late."

"Is that why he didn't come to detach his own column?" Caitlin asked bitterly, going back to twisting the column. It still wouldn't budge.

The guy laughed, putting his hair behind his ear, looking at her over his shoulder. "For once, no. He had to go help Joe. His adoptive father. Which is why he asked me to copy his results."

Caitlin's shoulders fell as her hope dropped to her shoes. Finding another student on campus to fix his stuff would take time, but right now she could still do so. But if he wasn't here, she was never going to be able to set up. Not without using that key, or accepting help.

She looked at the guy, who now was leaning against the desk while the computer was busy transferring files with results from the hard drive to the USB drive. The guy was smiling, his dark brown eyes sparkling with amusement. "Come on, I'll give you a hand."

Defeated, she nodded and gave him a soft smile while she stepped down the chair. He got onto it and a few moments later the column was detached - but not completely effortless, Caitlin noticed with satisfaction. He got off the chair and reached for the ends to screw back onto the column to protect it. Caitlin got the ends off her column at the same time, and got back onto the chair to attach her column to the UPLC.

"Thank you," she said as she reached for the computer, minimizing the screen where the files were still transferring, as she started up the equipment for the pre-run rinse.

"You're welcome," he responded. He waited patiently until she was done with the startup of the equipment before reaching for the computer, double checking if all the data was saved properly, and unplugging t*he flash drive.

"There you go," he said as the put the drive back in his pants pocket and pushed the keyboard a bit closer to her again. He grabbed his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. "See you around!"

"Yes," Caitlin responded. "See you later."

* * *

The next time Caitlin saw the guy - who never gave his name, she'd realized later – was on Tuesday in the biophysics class they both attended. The class was taught by Doctor McGee, who worked closely with Doctor Wells and his wife Doctor Morgan. Her classes were always interesting and she often offered extra insights. She let the class give input and she often explained in detail why and how their ideas would work or fail epically, but always stimulated them to keep thinking off new ideas. Caitlin always tended to sit in the front of the aula in this class. She had that habit in most of her classes, really, but she really liked this class. She noticed the guy from the week before sitting in about the middle of the small aula – the aula allowed for much more people to be seated than students that attended this class - next to a tall guy with brown hair.

Caitlin didn't pay further attention to them as the class started. She took some notes but mostly just listened to Doctor McGee, let it all soak in. She sometimes suggested an answer, but she just paid attention to the class.

Once class was done, Caitlin gathered her purse and dumped her notebook in it before running as fast as her heels allowed her to the labs of the biology department. Her UPLC run should be done in a few minutes, and she wanted to take the samples to the Gas Chromatography as well for comparison, and if she could do so before lunchtime, the run would be done before her meeting with Doctor Wells that afternoon. She quickly stopped by her office to put her purse away and grabbed her flash drive and lab coat. She made her way the Liquid Chromatography lab and saw the post-injection cleanup was running. She used the few minutes she still had to wait before saving her data and being able to process it, already looking at the raw results to see if she noticed any outliers. Once the run was done, she saved the data on the USB stick as well as on the server, before getting out the mobile phases and detaching the column. She was doing this last step when she heard two voices down the hall. She wasn't paying much attention to it, until she heard them loud and clear.

"So you told her you'd do it? You're seriously helping the girl you've been in love with for years move out of the dorms and in with her boyfriend of half a year? You are _such_ a pushover."

"I know, I know, but she gave me that look and I just couldn't say no to her. You don't understand," the second person whined.

"I understand you're a pushover," the first voice mocked his friend. A thump to the floor made it clear to Caitlin that the two guys must've entered the lab. She didn't bother looking up however, but focused on screwing the ends back on the column. "Oh," that first voice said. "Hi there again."

This did made Caitlin look up, because that only could've been addressed to her, as no one else was in the lab. She saw the same guy that had helped her the week before with the column and the guy that he'd been sitting with in Doctor McGee's class. "Hi," she responded, giving him a soft smile.

"No trouble with the column this time?" he asked conversationally.

She waved with the column to show it was all neatly fixed. "I can handle my own columns, it's only when others attach it I have trouble. Apparently." She placed the column back in its box and placed it on top the lab-notebook she'd left next to the computer earlier that morning.

The guy smiled. "Yeah, Barry's the one to blame. Glad to see you have it back under control."

Before Caitlin could speak, the other guy - who was wearing a lab coat and had been rummaging through the fridge while they'd been talking, squeaked. "I'm sorry, what did I do this time? Supposedly?"

"Screwing on the column to the UPLC too tight," the Latino guy responded as he hopped onto an empty space on the desk between a computer and an HPLC-UV instrument. "As always."

The long guy turned to her, his eyes big and apologetic. "I'm sorry about that," he said, his words dripping in genuine guilt.

"It's okay," Caitlin responded carefully. "Your friend saved the day. Just don't let it happen again."

The guy - Barry, she reminded herself - did a decent fish expression for a while before responding with. "Okay. Sorry again."

Caitlin just smiled as she loaded her lab-notebook, UPLC column, GC column and samples into her arms. She'd come back for her mobile phases later. "Good luck with your test," she said as she walked through the door. She heard a faint "Thanks," from Barry and a "See you around," from his friend.

It wasn't until she had set up the GC for its run and was back in her office, processing the results from the first run, she realized she still didn't know the guy's name.

* * *

The next day, Caitlin was walking on cloud nine. Her results had been great and the meeting with Doctor Wells the day before had gone smoothly. He'd been really impressed with her results, and he told her to run some samples on her newly developed method, some blind samples he'd provided her himself this morning, as well as a validation run. The entire injection cycle in total would take over ten hours easily, so she was going to run this overnight that Friday. With the auto-shutdown, she wouldn't have to come in on the weekend, and she'd have all the results to work with first thing Monday morning.

Except apparently, Barry had been running overnight as well, and he had yet to get his column down, even though it was late afternoon today. And he had put on the column too tight _again_. Normally at this point, she'd use a key, but he _again_ had used the column she uses as well for other trials and she refused to damage that column. She didn't want to have to replace that column. She'd prefer to keep that budget for this research instead. Toxins are expensive and she'll need more if these results stayed consistent.

"You know, we have to stop running into each other like this."

Her head snapped up and she spotted the same guy again, leaning against the doorframe. Instead of responding in a similar way or a friendly greeting, she snapped: "Your friend is a jackass."

He lifted his eyebrows. "The gentle Caitlin Snow, cursing? Damn, what did Barry do?"

Her shoulders fell in defeat and she pointed at the column, still attached. "He screwed on the column on too tight. Again. And I would've used a key, except I use that column as well and we really don't have the budget to replace it, which will have to happen sooner if I use a key." She was going to ignore the fact that this guy new her name and she still thought of him as the Latino guy with the long hair and deep brown eyes.

The guy nodded as he pushed himself off of the doorframe and walked into the lab. Caitlin got off of the chair so he could get on it and after a few failed attempts he managed to get the column off. As soon as he got off the chair, Caitlin got back on it and quickly attached her column. She didn't waste any time and quickly set up the pre-run rinse. As soon as those ten minute run started, she turned back to the guy. He'd screwed back on the caps onto the column and placed it, together with what must be Barry's samples, in the cupboard on the shelf labeled with _'B. H. Allen'_.

"So, your friend had about six hours to come and get his samples and column. Why didn't he?"

The guy shrugged. "Barry overslept for his meeting with his supervisor. So he didn't dare to show up for his classes today. I think he's currently being yelled at by his foster father. At least I hope so."

"Is that why you're transferring his data again?"

"Hell no," the guy said as he flipped his hair over his shoulder. "He's left me stranded too many times to count by oversleeping. He didn't have a decent reason, so I'm not helping him. I just have some time before my meeting with my supervisor and I figured I'd move his equipment, before there's another poor Bachelor student who's in tears because the equipment is unavailable and she doesn't dare to move anything."

This time it was Caitlin's turn to raise her eyebrow. "Does that happen?"

The guy shrugged. "Not often. But it's happened before. Besides, he's a jackass that oversleeps, but he's not a bad guy. He doesn't deserve his samples tossed out. Again."

Caitlin's eyes widened. "That happened?"

"Once. I think that's why he didn't ask for Doctor Wells as his supervisor. He got yelled at by him and got scared." He shrugged again. "His loss."

Caitlin had to laugh at that. "Yeah, he'll yell and sometimes throw stuff off of his desk, but he's smart and great to work for."

The guy nodded enthusiastically. "Indeed." He checked his watch and lifted his backpack higher onto his shoulder. "But I gotta go now, before I'm late for my meeting with him. Don't wanna get yelled at!"

Caitlin laughed and waved him bye as he walked back to the hallway. "Wait," she called out. He turned around, giving her a questioning look. "I never caught your name."

The guy smiled. "It's Cisco," he turned back around and yelled over his shoulder "See you around," before running towards the end of the hallways.

 _Cisco,_ Caitlin repeated in her head. She smiled to herself before turning back to the computer and starting on her injection run.

* * *

There was a coffeeshop on campus. It wasn't Starbucks or any big brand, nor was it like Jitters or anything similarly cozy. It was basic, but the basics they had were decent enough. Caitlin usually tried avoiding the coffeeshop. It's pretty expensive, and as a double major Masters student, taking med-classes while assisting Doctor Wells in research that is usually reserved for PhD students, she'd gained access to the small kitchen that was meant for professors and other staff. There wasn't much, but there was an never ending supply of coffee.

But a day like this called for a latte with caramel syrup. While the validation run had gone well, the results of the blind samples had fluctuated and now she was left to fix that problem. Doctor Wells had congratulated her on the work, though, and Caitlin knew this was a part of doing research, but her weekend had been filled with studying and interning at the hospital, so she was exhausted. She'd earned that self-indulgent double shot latte this Monday morning. So she was at the on-campus coffee shop.

She allowed herself to sit at one of the few tables the coffee shop offered. She pulled her bullet-journal, notebook filled with remarks from her meeting with Doctor Wells, and her schedule out of her purse. Figuring out how to schedule the new activities first would help her calm down enough and get motivated again before starting on the actual work again. There were so many people walking around, going to classes and lab sessions, which she tried to tune out. She didn't even realize she had been hyper-focused until she heard a - by now recognizable - voice pipe up.

"So you _do_ live outside classrooms, offices and labs. Good to know. Because after our latest run in, I thought you had set up camp in that lab."

Surprised to be addressed, Caitlin looked up and saw Cisco standing at her table, reusable thermos of the coffeeshop in hand, backpack thrown over one shoulder. She smiled. "My busy schedule doesn't allow much for downtime, and in the library and my office I get most work done," she explained, though she didn't have a reason to feel defensive. The fact that she had earned her own office as a Masters student held enough weight, but Cisco had clearly been teasing. Besides, if he also was a master student with Doctor Wells as his supervisor, he must be at least a bit of a workaholic student as well.

"Aaah, so you know there's a library. I was about to offer you a tour of the campus, just to make sure you know there's more we offer than the labs, but if you found the library and this coffee place, you are familiar with the most important places." He smiled a half smile, his eyes twinkling. He indicated at the share with a raised eyebrow, asking permission to join her.

Caitlin nodded and answered while she shuffled some of her notebooks around to make space for him. "I'm well acquainted with the campus, even though it's my first year here. The labs are my second home, though."

Cisco nodded at that. "For me it's much of the same. The labs being second home, I mean. I did my bachelors here as well. Close to home and good program, good scholarship, all that jazz. But yeah, the lab is where my heart is. Not the biochemistry labs, though."

"What exactly is your major?" she asked. His friend, Barry, was also in her molecular biology lab and she'd seen him around the department more often, now she thought of it. But Cisco didn't seem to be following many bio-engineering courses.

"Mechanical Engineer," he responded. After taking a swing of his coffee, he continued: "My bachelor was much of the same, and now I'm getting my masters in it as well, with a focus on incorporating biochemical elements."

"That's why you're taking biophysics," Caitlin responded, nodding in understanding.

"Yup." Cisco smiled, his eyes twinkling even brighter than before. "What about you? I know you take biophysics, but Barry mentioned some more biopharmaceutical-analysis related classes he takes with you as well - he's in Forensic Investigation," Cisco added in answer to Caitlin's furrowed brow. "But from what I've seen from the research you do with Doctor Wells, that can't be all."

Caitlin smiled. "I'm double majoring in medicine - both general practice and research, though that's not for now yet - and a Bio-engineering degree. The research I do for Doctor Wells is usually for a PhD level student, so it's been a challenge. Super interesting, though, it's for his projects I came to Central City. How do you know about what I'm working on, though?" It was confidential. As was almost everything with Doctor Wells.

"Oh, don't worry, not trying to steal anything." If that was Cisco's immediate response, his work with Doctor Wells must be confidential as well. "My meetings with Doctor Wells often follow yours, those five minutes he takes between meetings usually aren't enough for him to clear everything of his desk. He's usually still reading results and whatnot when I come in." Oh. That made sense. Cisco took another sip of his coffee, which reminded Caitlin that her latte was getting cold. "Besides," he continued. "I think that's why I haven't been able to schedule a fixed moment with him, to be honest. I think it might be connected somehow."

"Huh." Caitlin thought over that. "I'm not sure."

Cisco leaned back in his chair. "Well, whatever happened at your meeting this morning, it must've gone well. I don't think I've seen Doctor Wells that excited since his daughter was born. I swear he's the human incarnation of the grumpy cat meme."

That made Caitlin laugh. "True. And well, we found what worked and what didn't. Good news in general, but it means we have to try a new approach and my entire schedule is messed up again."

Cisco smiled knowingly. "Been there." He checked his watch and got up. "Either way, good luck. I've got another lab that's about to start, and I doubt Doctor Wells will let me get away with not showing up after having had a meeting with him." He swung his backpack over his shoulder and finished his cup of coffee, sticking it blindly in the side pocket of his backpack in a practiced move. "Either way. Good luck, and see you around."

"See you around," Caitlin echoed, watching Cisco walk off in the halls.

She watched the door he disappeared through for a few moments longer before shaking her head and getting back to her notebooks and journals. She didn't need a boy as a distraction.

* * *

After that, knowing what Masters the two guys were following, she spotted them more often in the hallways. Barry in some lab sessions, or at some optional lectures she attended which attracted a mixed group of students. Cisco in the hallway of Doctor Wells' office, often heading in as she headed out, and in the labs where the technological developments happened.

The next time she spoke to either of them, though, was on a Saturday when she was interning at the Central City University Hospital. It had been a quiet day, so they'd let Caitlin help out at the Emergency Room. She wasn't allowed to do much yet, but her first aid training and resume had given her the advantage that she was allowed to disinfect wounds and ask the preliminary questions before the doctor came, and observe and sometimes assist the doctor in administering help. Helping out in the Emergency Room didn't happen often, since it often was busy and stress ran high, but she liked it best, helping out with diagnostics and making sure patients were getting the proper help and felt at ease.

When she'd been send in to start up the preliminary help in room four, however, she hadn't expected to see Cisco sitting on the examination table, his hand wrapped up in a cardigan that he must've been wearing earlier, his hand held up in a self-made mockup of a sling. Probably made with Barry's cardigan, Caitlin figured, as he was standing next to Cisco in only his T-shirt, which in this November whether wasn't that typical of a sight in Central City.

"Ramon, F., flesh wounds to left hand and upper arm?" she asked, trying to maintain her professionalism. Since she was only an intern, she didn't think there were any rules against her helping someone she knew, but maintaining her professional posture.

Cisco and Barry looked up. "Oh, hi Caitlin," Cisco responded faintly. "Yup, that's me."

Barry furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "What are you doing here? You can't be an actual doctor yet…"

"I'm not," Caitlin responded, and she wasn't sure if she needed to be offended by his doubt of her abilities, or find his attempts at making sure his friend received the best care endearing. "I'm interning. I only do the preliminary help and observe the doctors and nurses." She turned to Cisco. "If you rather have an actual nurse or doctor, or someone that isn't me, I understand and can go get someone, though."

Cisco shook his head. "It's all fine. Besides, that would take time and well, there's a reason we're at the ER and not at the doctor's waiting room." He vaguely waved with his right hand, indicating his left hand that was sitting in the swing.

"Okay, well, then I'm first going to remove this so I can examine the wound. Then I'll report it and fill in the questionnaire with you while we wait for the doctor or nurse to arrive."

Cisco nodded. "Cool." He shifted a bit forwards so he could take off the sling - a hoodie, indeed, that Barry readily accepted - and unwound the first few layers of fabric of his hand before offering his hand to Caitlin.

Caitlin continued unwinding the cardigan from his hand. Whatever the flesh wounds were, it must've been bad, because the fabric was stuck in the wound. Cisco hissed as she has to pull the last piece of fabric loose. "Sorry," she said. She placed the cardigan on the empty metal dish behind her that was on the table. She put on gloves and took out some cotton balls on which she applied disinfectant. "This might sting," she warned. Cisco nodded in understanding, but he still hissed and squeezed his eyes shut.

Once the wound was clean and she'd attached some sterile patches to stop the bleeding, she wrote down some preliminary observations down on the sheet. Big and deep cut, still bleeding, probably in need of stitches. Patient was quiet, possibly unwell from bloodless. "Ramon F.?" she asked conversationally.

"Yeah," Cisco responded. "Full name is Francisco. Not really fond of it, though."

Caitlin nodded. "How are you feeling? Dizzy, nauseous?"

"I'm fine. Besides the obvious."

"He was dizzy and distracted earlier," Barry offered. "That's what caused him to lose focus and make that cut."

"It's fine now, though," Cisco protested weakly.

"Everything is relevant, Cisco," Caitlin answered. Barry nodded emphatically. "Any idea what might have caused it?"

"Nothing serious," Cisco responded. But after Barry gave him a disappointing look, he sighed and continued. "I… Uhm... Might have forgotten to take my meds for my low blood pressure the past few days."

Caitlin nodded and responded, but Barry continued. "Ask him how long."

The _'_ _Dude!'_ Cisco protested with went ignored. Caitlin raised her eyebrows. "How long?" she asked him.

Cisco sighed. "Since last Monday," he admitted.

Caitlin nodded. Normally she'd lecture him about how skipping medication is bad, but by the looks of it he was well aware of this and the doctor will probably give him the same lecture anyways, so she decided a stern look would suffice. She also measured his blood pressure - which was indeed rather low. She wrote down the information and said: "I'll be right back, two minutes."

She closed the door of the examining room behind her and walked to the central nurse's desk. She dropped off the form and said that a doctor probably would be needed. The head nurse agreed after quickly looking over the form, and told her it might take a while - it was a quarter to eleven so a few of the doctors were on their smoke break – so Caitlin could go ahead and take it easy with the questionnaire.

Caitlin nodded, accepted the new forms and secured them on her clipboard while she walked back to the examination room. She heard the two guys bickering inside, so she took a deep breath and knocked before opening the door. The conversation halted as she entered. "The doctor will be here in a bit," she said.

"Awesome," Cisco responded, attempting to sit back up. "So. Let's play twenty questions!"

Caitlin offered him a half-smile. "I'll ask the questions, you just get to answer, I'm afraid."

Cisco pulled a sad face. "Bummer," he whined. He crossed his legs so he was sitting more comfortably, his hand resting on his crossed ankles. "Anyways, shoot."

Caitlin started with the basics. Name, date of birth, insurance, occupation, etc. Medical history, if he takes any medication - "Or if there's any medication you _should_ be taking," Caitlin added for good measurement - and any recent previous sicknesses or injuries.

"So can you describe what happened exactly when you injured yourself?"

Cisco nodded. "Basically, the figure saw got away from me."

Caitlin raised her eyebrows. "Care to elaborate?"

"Not really."

Barry snorted at that. "We were helping out at my foster sister, she just moved in with her boyfriend. He was cutting a plank for the table, but Eddy was taking of his T-shirt and this fool forget that he should be watching the figure saw instead of ogling my _sister_ _'_ _s boyfriend's abs_."

Caitlin bit her lips together to keep herself from laughing. She wrote down _'_ _Lost focus of figure saw, cut in hand.'_

"Dude _, not cool,_ _"_ Cisco said. "You get mad at me when I comment on Iris's belly button piercing, you are annoyed when I dare to look at Eddy. Stop being so jealous and controlling." Cisco was whining at this point, but he turned to Caitlin and continued. "He's a cop. And he's ripped, like, full on six-pack. How could I not look?" He turned back to Barry. "Besides. It's not like I even _dared_ to look in Iris's general _direction_ , God forbid I might spot her bare shoulder!"

Barry crossed his arms defensively. "You're exaggerating."

Cisco rolled his eyes. "Dude, you need to move on. You grew up with her. You've been in love with her since forever. _I get it_. But she's moved in with her boyfriend, and you need to get over it!"

Barry glanced at Caitlin, who clearly was an outsider in this discussion and who he'd rather not have heard this much of the conversation. She looked down at her form, but let them continue their discussion anyways. "You still shouldn't have mentioned the body jewelry. You know that can make people uncomfortable."

"Dude, it's not like I was hitting on her or looking for it! And I wasn't being a creep." He turned back to Caitlin and tapped her shoulder so she'd look up. "She was wearing a crop top. And I said I found her belly button piercing _tasteful_. Like, you should see the tacky stuff some of my cousins walk around with. How is that offensive, creepy, or _God forbid,_ anti-feminist?"

It were his big, deep brown, helpless eyes that made Caitlin answer. At least that's what she'd keep telling herself should she justify her reasons for actually answering. "As long as she wasn't like, actively trying to hide it or steer the conversation away, I don't see how there could be any harm done."

"Thank you!" Cisco proclaimed.

"Fine," Barry answered, effectively ending the discussion.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Caitlin said: "Okay, next question. What was the first thing you did afterward the injury happened?"

Cisco explained how he first held his hand under running water to get rid of any wood and metal particles, as well as the big amount of blood. A band-aid didn't help, so they wrapped an old cardigan around his hand and drove to the ER. Eddie had made the sling out of the hoodie, and Barry had driven them to the ER in Cisco's car.

"So no medication, nothing you drank or ate?"

Cisco shook his head. Caitlin nodded, wrote this down and continued the list. When they were done, it was three minutes to eleven. Caitlin knew the doctor, if he was on his smoke break, wouldn't be here until eleven exactly.

"So how long before the doctor shows up?" Barry asked, as if he read her mind.

"Shouldn't be long anymore, only a few minutes," she responded.

Barry nodded and checked his phone again. "Do you think Cisco will be able to drive himself home?" he asked.

"Why?" Cisco asked, at the same time Caitlin responded. "I can't give you an official statement, that'll be up to the doctor or nurse, but I don't see why not. A cast won't be needed, most likely, so as long as it's not for a long drive, and the car is an automatic, it should be fine."

Barry nodded, then turned back to Cisco. "Dude, would you mind? Joe's done at the hardware store and he can come pick me up before heading to Iris and Eddie's place."

"So you can go torture yourself some more? Sure, go ahead, go do you, Casanova."

Barry rolled his eyes as he untied the sleeves of his sweater so he could put it back on. "Try getting past a fourth date with the same person and come back to me."

"Dude, _that_ _'_ _s cold."_

"Whatever, man," Barry responded. "Text me when you get out of here, and I'll see you on Monday. Bye Caitlin," he said, and then he was out of the door.

"… Okay then," Caitlin said, trying to break the tension.

Cisco rolled his eyes. "He lived with Joe and Iris since he was eleven. He's been madly in love with her for ten years, but he never dared to say anything, and now he's acting like a jealous prick because she doesn't reciprocate his feelings and she got a boyfriend." Cisco tried sitting back up, gesturing with his hands. "Which is ridiculous, because he never said anything to her, so how could she even know why he is hurt?" Shaking his head, he added: "And it sucks double for him, because Eddy is a colleague of Joe, and he's like, a genuinely nice guy. Which makes it harder for Barry to hate him."

"It's that why he works it out on you?" Caitlin asked.

"Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner."

Caitlin smirked. "It makes sense why you checking out the guy he's trying to hate, pisses him off, though."

Cisco rolled his eyes. "Details. Anyways, when is this doctor coming?"

Caitlin checked her watch. Her watch indicated there were ten seconds left before it was exactly 11 o'clock. She'd put all her watches and clocks in synch with the clocks of the hospital. "He should be here any second now. In five, four…" the rest of the number she indicated by counting down on her fingers, and when she made a fist at zero, the door flew open. She could smell the ethanol Doctor Chase used to spray on to hide the scent of the cigarettes he'd been smoking. A bad disguise, she found herself, and seeing the way Cisco wrinkled his nose he agreed.

"So what do we have here?" Dr. Chase asked as he took the clipboard that Caitlin was holding out for him.

"Francisco Ramon, 21 years old, student and CCU, cut his hand with a figure saw. Has forgotten to take his meds for low bp for six days, has a bp of six over five and bpm of 65. I cleaned out the wound, he'll most likely will need three stitches."

The Doctor nodded and looked at the chart, but Cisco piped up. "Six over five after not taking my meds for a week? _Nice_. Normally it's like, seven over four or something after not taking my meds for two days."

The doctor looked up and stared at Cisco oddly. "You realize," Caitlin said. "That that's not something to be proud about, right?"

Cisco shrugged, but looked at the doctor. The doctor read the chart over in silence before handing it back to Caitlin and removing the square patch (which now was pretty spotted with blood) and drew it back so he could observe the wound. It was still bleeding.

"Caitlin, could you please hand me - Yes, thank you." The doctor took gloves out of the box Caitlin was holding, and then accepted the cotton ball with disinfectant that Caitlin had offered with her other hand. Cisco hissed again at the contact. "You'll definitely need stitches," the Doctor said. "I'll go get the paperwork in order and the needed equipment and we'll fix you right up."

Cisco nodded but stayed silent. As soon as the door closed behind him, he said: "He smells like a bonfire."

Caitlin laughed. "Yeah. Smokes like a chimney. Good doctor though, always patiently explains stuff if you ask him and he's great with kids."

Cisco wrinkled his nose. "Do you get a lot of kids in the ER?"

Caitlin shrugged. "Some. I like those best, though." Cisco looked at her like she was insane, so she elaborated. "Usually it's a broken arm or leg, which sucks, but once the pain stops, the kids will happily chatter about how it happened - usually while biking at the park or climbing in a tree. And then I get to tell them how the broken bone is just a battle wound, and they get a colorful cast on which they can write names and it's all fixed again."

Cisco nodded thoughtfully. "I guess adults don't usually bounce back as quickly."

Caitlin shrugged. She hesitated to add something, but Cisco noticed and indicated with his hand for her to continue. "You also can actually make the kids happy. When they walk out, they're talking about how they get to brag to their friends, or even pre-teens, they'll already be texting their friend and be happy about the fact they can't take notes with a broken wrist or something and can get copies from the best student in their class. They're more excitable and they see the bright side of the situation more easily."

"Whilst the adults usually only think about how this took time away from them, or how this keeps them from doing their job, and how will they reschedule everything, and so on, and so forth."

Caitlin nodded. "Exactly."

The doctor returned and fixed Cisco up. He kept the conversation up by asking the usual questions to keep them distracted from the actual stitches - what to you study, why that university, and so on, in this case - but Cisco was being stubborn and kept asking questions himself - what kind of needle is that, what size, what's the thread made out of, what's the reason of the curve of the needle, and so on and so further. Caitlin answered some questions where the doctor left out information she figured Cisco would find interesting. The actual composition of the needle, the way it's sterilized, the function of the form of the needle, etc.

A few minutes later, Cisco was cleared to go. He'd be able to drive himself back but shouldn't put too much pressure on his hand. He walked alongside Caitlin to the main reception at the ER. "Thanks for keeping me company. And sorry about Barry being a brat."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Caitlin replied easily. "Not your fault, so…"

Cisco shrugged. At the central nurse's station, Caitlin hesitated, but she decided to walk along with Cisco to the exit. They were outside once they stopped. "So," he asked, swinging his hair back behind his shoulder and looking thoughtfully at Caitlin. "Until what time do you have to work, or, well, intern, here at the hospital?"

"Oh," Caitlin responded, somewhat of guard since she was not expecting such a question at all. She'd been expecting Cisco to ask a million questions about what he could and what he definitely should not do with his hand and the stitches. "My shift ends at one. As an intern I'm not allowed to work more than seven hours and a half a day, so."

"So in like, an hour and a half or so?"

Caitlin checked her watch. "An hour and forty minutes, yes." She looked up, eyes questioning. "Why?"

Cisco shrugged, feigning casual. "Just wanted to know if you'd prefer lunch or dinner."

Caitlin blinked. "For what?"

"A date." Cisco's posture remained confident and casual, but Caitlin suspected that him shifting his weight from one feet to the other and back meant he was a bit more nervous about it than he let on. "I figure you'd prefer dinner, so you can go home, rest up a bit after a shift that started in the middle of the night, apparently."

"Five in the morning isn't the middle of the night," she responded automatically. "And. What?" Did she seriously hear him say a date?

Cisco waved his hand around, dismissing her statement. "You're insane is what you are. Anyhow. I'll pick you up at six? Six thirty? You'll have to give me your number though, so you can text me the address."

"… What?"

"Dinner date. Tonight?"

Caitlin blinked once. Twice. "You're seriously asking me out on a date?"

"Yes?" Cisco didn't seem to grasp why that was such an oddity. His nervousness seemed to kick in though. "Unless you seriously aren't interested, or like, have a fiancé at home, or are a total Kinsey six unlike my middle three status, and God I'm so sorry _Dios Mio_ I'm making a fool out of myself again aren't I? It's just that I've always noticed you because you're always dressed professional yet pretty and those heals you wear seem lethal and you just glow of power and smarts and I've got a thing for kickass women who take no nonsense and can take care of themselves. And then I talked to you and you're funny even when you don't realize it and you're seriously smart and ambitious and the research you do for Doctor Wells is seriously impressive and I barely know what you're doing and Oh my God I'm just putting a foot in my mouth aren't I? _Por qué esto sigue sucediendo?_ _Dios mio…"_

Caitlin had stopped paying attention to what Cisco had been rambling about after the few first words, and once he started in Spanish everything had stopped registering. Cisco seriously is interested in _her_ , workaholic overly ambitious cold, plain, Caitlin Snow? He seemed so warm and sociable, full of energy and fun. All the things that Caitlin wasn't.

Then again they both shared an interest in science. He was sweet and easy to talk to. And she liked his humor.

Besides, after things had ended with Ronnie when she moved away from Starling City six months ago to do her Masters in Central City, she'd been lonely. Too busy to do something about it or even give too much attention to that feeling, too, but lonely nevertheless. A date might remedy this.

And so what if Cisco fails to get past a fourth date with people according to Barry - a detail the back of her mind readily supplied. She'd failed at first dates and barely got second dates before. But the thought of spending the night talking with Cisco didn't feel like that would be the case. She's always felt at ease with him. So far at least. And usually she was so awkward around people she didn't know.

Really, what harm could it do to say yes?

"Yes," she said, interrupting Cisco's ongoing monologue, switching between English and Spanish, with a lot of curses, if her French knowledge was anything to extrapolate from.

Cisco shut his mouth immediately and stared at her, confused. "Yes?"

"Yes, I'll go on a date with you." She fished her phone out of the inside pocket of her lab coat, unlocked it and handed it to him so he could enter his phone number. Once he did, she immediately texted him her home-address - well, the intersection where he could pick her up - so he would have her phone number as well. "Six thirty sounds good. I'll make a reservation." She'd been dying to try out that Thai place on the other side of town, but going by herself alone seemed so desperate.

Cisco raised his eyebrows. "I asked for the date, shouldn't I be the one making reservations?" He had fished his own phone out of his back pocket and was saving Caitlin's number in his phone while trying to move his left hand as little as needed.

"I pick the place, you can pay." Cisco smiled, deep brown eyes twinkling, which made Caitlin feel confident and even a little bit bold. "And who knows," she said as she slowly started pacing backwards to the door of the emergency department. "If it goes well, you can pick the place for the second date. Then I'll pay."

Cisco's mouth fell slightly open, but his smile was wide and genuine. Caitlin smiled, more to herself than at him, gave him a quick wave, and then turned around and walked back into the emergency room, hoping she looked as lethal in sneakers as she did in heels.

She couldn't wait for tonight.

* * *

The next time Caitlin was in the lab was on Monday morning. She had put her samples back in the freezer and tossed the mobile phases. She was detaching the column when she heard a knock on the door. She looked over and saw Cisco leaning in the doorframe, a big smile on his face.

"Good morning, Caitlin," he said.

Caitlin couldn't help but smile back. "Good morning to you, too." She screwed back on the ends of her column and gathered her equipment. "What brings you here so early on a Monday?"

Cisco shrugged. "I was awake and I knew someone would be here bright and early, and I had something to run by them."

Caitlin tried to hide her smile. "Is that so?"

"Uhu," Cisco said, his eyes sparkling. "You have ninety minutes between that biochemistry lab and your meeting with Doctor Wells, right?"

"Yes…" Caitlin said slowly.

"Awesome. So I was thinking we could go to that bistro two blocks down for lunch? I really don't want to wait until Wednesday for our second date."

Cisco's smile was so bright that Caitlin couldn't help but return it. "Sounds great," she replied. "And this time I pay."

Cisco's smile never wavered when he responded with "Perfect, see you then," before bouncing off into the hallway, almost skipping. And Caitlin couldn't help but notice her heart was doing the same.


End file.
